Sometimes the hostile responses on here really floor me. Maybe think before you type something like this. This is a really solid, incredibly professional and really not very expensive product. I use it all the time. The guy shipped something, and he shipped something great. You may not like countdown timers but jeez, ease off a bit maybe?
For everyone who takes the time to explain why they bounced, 1000 people did so without taking the time to explain.
I am sure the majority of people here who saw this hit back the second they saw the ticking countdown timer. Few bothered to come back and advise against it.
It's "hostile" in so far as they are being brutally honest. You pull this kind of crap, and you get called out for it. This has all the professionalism of a late night infomercial. DON'T DELAY, CALL TODAY!
The notion of a sale for software and especially the countdown timer is a deliberate trick designed to separate people from their money. Just because many businesses engage in these kinds of dishonest tactics doesn't mean that people will just accept them. People don't like being tricked - it's a very legitimate criticism.
If this is a trick then you could arguably put pretty much any marketing into the same category. Looks nice? Cheaper than competition? Has newsletter? Great SEO? Really well authored content? Lovely video? Are these all "tricks" too? Because at some level, yes, you're being manipulated by pretty much anything that triggers desire.
Seems entirely legitimate to me that people can choose whatever tools they want to sell the thing they've spent loads of time working on. And in the same way it's also entirely legitimate for you and others to simply choose not to buy.
Honestly, I have no idea why HNers are so hostile about such a cheap product. If you like it, just buy it whether you want to treat it as a tool, a toy or whatever. If you don't like, just leave it alone.
Unfortunately HN audience can smell BS really fast and these kind of tactics fall in the BS category, hence get called out. Maybe in other lay person spaces it won't be.
I mean is it really that BS... you're literally getting it for half price now, which you (but not necessarily YOU) may regret later on when you do want to get the product.
It's not fake if the price does increase when it says. Scarcity and pricing doesn't need to be based on actual physical scarcity otherwise all software would be close to $0
There is no difference from this going on sale and a TV going on sale
Practically all software pricing is arbitrary, which is the point I was trying to make. It costs roughly $0 to distribute an extra unit of software (generally speaking)
Has no "sophisticated technical founder" ever bought anything on sale before? Give me a break
I feel like anytime you get marketing using words like "fastest", "easiest", "best", "world's greatest", etc, you are entering the realm of hucksterism
Bounced so fast & immediately looked to see if HN has a downvote button.
If you're targeting engineers and sophisticated people you need to rethink that.